You Swore That You Would Stay
by SabbathSoul
Summary: A Songfic based off Red Like Roses Part II. We see the emotional state of Yugi and Yami after a month has past after the Ceremonial Duel, when they said their goodbyes. Redone.


Yu-Gi-Oh characters belongs to Kazuki Takahashi

The song is Red Like Roses Part ll belongs to Jeff and Casey Lee Williams.

Update: Apparently the song I choose is not in the public domain, which sucks as I think it's a great song tied with a great show(RWBY). However, I don't have the heart to delete everything so here's what we'll try to do. You guys open a new tab. Go to YouTube and write in the title of the song. Listen to the lyrics as you read. I'll try to separate the song in quatrains, but I will be skipping the first two bridges. It's something of a hassle, I know, but it's the only way I can do this while still obeying the guidelines.

* * *

Suffocation, strangulation. His throat tight, trying hard to keep from sobbing. The action fruitless, as he gave off muffled hiccups and his body shook. He had been crying for about an hour now. It wouldn't have been so bad, if this hadn't been the hundredth time he broke down this week.

A month. One whole month. 30 days, and he was still heart broken.

He didn't think it would be this bad. He knew he would cry, mourn, for the lost of his best friend; his soul mate. It would be inhuman not to. He knew it would feel empty and quieter now without him. He knew all this would happen. But knowing doesn't hold a candle to the real thing.

He wasn't sad, he was shattered. He didn't feel empty, he felt cold and numb to the point where he would lay there for hours and not notice. In all his years, he had thought that the worst pain he'd experience would be the death of his parents. Their death so sudden, they were literally ripped from his life. He had cried then too, he despaired and ached and questioned and blamed anything and everything. But he at least felt something back then. Or, at least, he though he did. But now, now was so much worse, because he had seen this coming, but choose to ignore it, believing, hoping, that the inevitable could be postponed. He didn't see, because he didn't wish to see.

And denial was kind to no one.

* * *

His hope had turned into despair, and his love had turn into sickening sorrow. Who knew these positive feelings that had made him feel like a king, that made him fly to the peak of heaven and drunk from euphoria, would suddenly turn to solid stone that threatened to crush him? The weight of it all made it hard to breath, difficult to move, and impossible to think and feel anything else other than numbing pain.

His friends had tried to help him cope, tried to get his mind off of Atem, but all attempts had been unsuccessful for the most part. Tea would come and visit him everyday, either trying to get him outside and walk through the park, play video games, or just help around the shop. Joe would try cracking jokes or challenging him to duels or other challenges while Tristan and Ryou would lend an ear and a shoulder to cry on.

Yugi suppose he could give himself some credit. At least he hadn't cried openly to his friends, after all, they were suffering too. Sure, it may not been as painful and earth shattering, but pain was pain and he'd be damned if he tried to make it into a contest.

Wonder what prize the winner would receive?

* * *

The dreams he's been getting didn't help either. Every night it was the same dream; or to be more specific, it were different dreams with the same person in all of them. Some of them were nothing but replays of past events, some were of just them talking, or reliving duels or conversation; mostly it was the ceremonial duel. Sometimes, he would dream of Atem winning instead of him, or Atem stating he would stay with them. It seemed plausible, since Atem was given a body.

In fact, why didn't he stay? Sure he had his family waiting on the other side, Atem and them had waited for five thousand years to reunite; surly it he wouldn't be asking for much to ask Atem to stay a few more decades?

Yugi wanted to hit himself. Atem didn't give up his life just to meander in the physical realm, it was to get rid of the most evil powers of the shadow games. Atem came to complete a job and he did. He saved the world multiple times; he deserved a rest, deserved to go to paradise, to be with people he loved.

_Like you._

And so the debated would go full circle. An infinite loop.

* * *

He tried to act normal, to move on, and, as time went on, the pain did seem to numb. There was a portion of Yugi that hated that, hated that he was no longer grieving. This was, _is_, his best-friend, he should grief, he had every right to. But at the same time, he did see this coming. However, as the days wore on, he realize that he was simply suppressing his emotions. Yugi put up a facade that he was alright. He tried to be happy and smile, but it felt strained, and his friends could tell it wasn't genuine. So Yugi became stoned faced, merely nodding to questions, rarely talking unless he was up to it. He didn't look happy, but at least he didn't look sad right?

He paid attention in school, and was doing surprisingly well, to his parents surprise, until they noticed his behavior. While they were busy with there jobs, they at least knew that there child had been more chipper, more alive than he was now. Yugi wouldn't have minded telling his parents, as he had felt a little guilty lying to them on where he had been and what he as been doing. But the fact that he'd have to tell them everything; reliving every good and bad moment as he explained, rubbing salt into the already sore wounds.

It was a good thing Yugi was good at hiding his hurt and that his parents were slight oblivious. Who knew that being bullied would make him into a decent actor?

* * *

He knew it wasn't his fault. It wasn't Atem's, it wasn't Afleka, or Aknadin, even if they were the one's who released Zork. No, it wasn't anyone's fault. It was inevitable. Atem was going to leave sooner or later. He remembered when he first solved the puzzle, he was so elated at first he didn't even register the lapse in memory. He presumed he was just overly tired. Though, that same excuse won't have work on his bruises, which seemed to have miraculously disappeared as well.

Then, he notices the disappearances and how those who harmed him and/or his friends all ended up insane or seriously injured. At first, he had been afraid, not sure who, or even how, the incidents were happening. The only factor was The Millennium Puzzle.

And when he did find out about Atem, Yugi found that he wasn't as afraid as he should be. As time passed, it was clear that they had their own way with dealing with their opponents and what they were willing to do to win, but they were almost always on the same page. That included getting the pharaohs memories back and letting him pass on into the afterlife.

That realization was the hardest to swallow. He didn't want Atem to leave. At first is was for selfish reasons; Atem supported him in a way his friends couldn't, he made him braver, stronger, more confident, but as he grew and matured, he realized that he no longer needed Atem, he could hold is own.

But that didn't mean he still didn't want him. He was his best friend, his other half of his heart. His soul mate.

* * *

The Field of Reeds was definitely everything he dreamed of and more. Yami was thankful that his ancestors weren't lying or wrong. Here, he could live in his own world and still visit his friends and family of the past. To relive happy memories, memories he finally remembered, and continue to make more until he is called to the land of the living again. But, nowadays, he was wishing to see his friends from the future. He missed Tristan and Serenity and wondered if they ever got together, the same with Joey and Mai. He wondered if Duke ever got his Dungeon and Dice game off the ground. If Kiba was still obsessed with his blue eyes, if Tea finally got to go to New York to dance. And, of course, Yugi.

He knew it hurt Yugi, having to let him go.

It hurt him too.

* * *

He remembered the first time he woke up. Before, he had been confused, distraught, but most of all, angry. He had been trapped in what was his own personal Hell, where if he wasn't being tortured by the darkness and whispers, it was his own mind haunting him. He didn't understand, what did he do to deserve this? What was his crime? What had he done? Who the hell was he even!?

That was the worst; the not knowing, forgetting. His lapse in memory had made him empty. And when one had years, centuries, feeling empty, they are desperate to fill it with anything, and everything. It didn't matter if it was good or bad, as long as he had something, anything, to fill the hollow ache inside him, he'd be fine.

And then, a miracle happened. He met Yugi.

* * *

Yugi had freed him from his prison, from the darkness and hollow ache and the waiting. Sure, Yugi's presence didn't cure everything; he still knew nothing about his past; but the very fact the he was free was all that mattered, along with helping out the teen with his own problems. Yugi seemed to be trapped himself. The boy believed that he would be destined to be alone and unwanted, to be picked on by the so called strong.

The hatred that had festered in his soul intensified. Who the hell was this bully to make anyone feel to weak, so helpless? As far as he could tell, this boy had done nothing in his lifetime to warrant such torment. And, if he was truly honest with himself, he was also angry with Yugi. While his situation was bad, it was still fixable. This boy had no reason to despair. And he'd prove it, one way or another.

And so began a surprisingly bumpy road in gaining Yugi's trust and friendship. A road that, even filled danger and mistakes, he wouldn't mind traveling again.

* * *

He shouldn't feel this sad, this miserable in the afterlife. He had gotten what he wanted, to finally rest after 5,000 years and saving the world. He deserved this. They deserved this.

Right?

With him here, the shadow games will never come into being again, the dark power from the past now destroyed. Bakura and Zork now gone. Everyone lives are now back to normal. A normalcy that he had taken away from Yugi the moment he solved the puzzle; maybe even sooner when one thought about it.

No, he had made the right chose in coming here. He was dead after all, had been for 5,000 years. thousands of years waiting and wondering and fighting and stress and friendships and happiness, though the last two only happened in the last 3 years. The point was, that he was an old and tired soul who had finally arrived in the afterlife with his friends and family. He had done everything he was suppose to do. His soul should be at peace. And yet he never felt more restless.

* * *

It didn't matter anyway. It was never really about himself anyway. Yes, he sealed himself away with Zork, and it was his destiny to stop the shadow games and finally reach the after life. He did want that, but he also wanted something more; something he couldn't get. He had his parents, his priests and friends and servants, he even retained his godhood upon entering the afterlife. He had his scribes, his throne and all the riches any man could desire, but he still felt empty. He missed Tristan, Tea, Joey, Grandpa, Mokuba, hell, he even missed Kiba. But, he'd give anything just to see Yugi again, to see if he was alright, if he was happy and dueling. If he finally had the courage to...ask Tea out. That thought hurt the most; that Yugi had gone on to find love, date, get married and have children...grandchildren.

It hurt, and it shouldn't have. He should be happy for his friend; happy that he finally got to live a calm, normal life. A happy, peaceful life, a life Atem couldn't give. If he had chosen to stay, the darkness of the shadow game would still exists, and people would come after him and Yugi, forever craving the dark power. Yugi, his friends and family, always in trouble, always in danger, and it would be because of him. No, everything is in balance, in harmony, because he was here.

And that should...is good enough. That fact that he made the world save for his Aibou is good enough.

Both knew that what they wanted was selfish, not only would it cause the world to go back into turmoil, but because it would have made their sacrifices meaningless. Both had spent years suffering, and who were they to put their needs before their friends who gave so much and asked for little in return?

This point in their lives was Inevitable. They were never meant to be together. To meet and grow stronger, sure, but to never stay with one another. And wasn't that the cruelest of faiths?

Two souls who fit so perfectly, forever to be apart, each belonging to a different set, a different world, a different puzzle.

* * *

And so their only option is to wait. Yugi would live life, growing up, going to college, traveling and working for Seto Kiba, his love for games and dueling never really diminishing; why would it when it reminded Yugi so much of Atem. He'd go to Egypt to pay a visit to the Ishtars and the the Lost Pharaohs tome. Yugi would grow up, grow old, never marrying. Tea was a nice girl, but she was just a friend, and Rebecca was far too...spirited for him anyway. No, he would wait till it was time; or he got sick of living, and so would Atem. After all, they both technically waited 5,000 years to meet, what was another couple for decades.

Though, both would agree, it would have been nice if most of those years didn't feel so cold and lonely.

* * *

The irony about this fanfiction is that I don't particularly care for Songfics. I either find them too cheesy; not matching up with the characters' actual emotional state; and/or finding them kind of sloppily put together. I have seen some good ones, but they are too far and few between for me. So here's me, trying to prove myself wrong.

So, did it work?

Reedit: The answer is 'almost'. It's now sloppy and somewhat a hassle to read. I hope you all still enjoyed it.

And I hope I'm not flagged again.


End file.
